Garment hangers



y 1962 G. A. PINKHAM 3,044,672

GARMENT HANGERS Filed Sept. 10, 1959 INVENTOR. GEORGE A. PINKHAM ATTORNEY United States Patent Ofifice 3,044,672 Patented July 17, 1962 3,044,672 GARMENT HANGERS George A. Pinkham, 213 Coyle St., Portland, Maine Filed Sept. 10, 1959, Ser. No. 839,231 1 Claim. (Cl. 223-91) The present invention relates to garment hangers of the type provided with means for positively attaching trousers, skirts, or other garments thereto.

The usual coat hanger has a cross bar or arm over which a pair of trousers or a skirt is hung and it is a common experience to have the trousers or the skirt slip from the hanger and become so wrinkled, soiled or both "as to require that it be again pressed, Such an accident is particularly objectionable to garment cleaners, because it usually occurs during delivery so that the delivery to the customer is delayed and the expense of processing the garment reincurred.

A this problem has long been recognized, a number of attempts have been made to ensure that garments such as skirts or trousers can be securely attached to their hangers. These have not been well accepted as either they have proved to be too costly to manufacture or they have not met such requirements as security or ease of use.

The principal objective of the present invention is to provide garment hangers with attaching means for skirts and trousers that meet the above indicated standards. In accordance with the invention, this objective is attained by providing a garment hanger with first and second portions including ends disposed towards each other as close parallel and overlapping first and second arms which are held together by first and second slidable sleeves. The first arm and the first sleeve are dimensioned relative to one another to enable the first sleeve to be slid into a position freeing the first arm to enable a garment to be easily introduced between it and the second arm and to be securely gripped therebetween by again catching the first arm with the first sleeve and then advancing either one or both sleeves towards the other to place the arms under suitable garment gripping tension. 7

In the accompanying drawings there are shown illustrative embodiments of the invention from which these and other of its objectives, novel features and advantages will be readily apparent.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a coat hanger in accordance with the invention,

FIG. '2 is a section on an increased scale, along the generally indicated lines 2-2 of FIG. 1, and

FIG, 3 is a perspective View of another garment hanger in accordance with the invention.

In FIGS. 1 and 2, there is shown a coat hanger consisting of a length of wire stock twisted together as at 5 to provide a central loop shaped to establish a supporting hook 6 and a pair of oppositely disposed portion 7 and 8 appopriately shaped for the support of such a garment as a coat and having their ends bent and disposed towards each other to provide close parallel and overlapping supporting arms 9 and 10, respectively.

Sleeves 11 and 12 join the arms 9 and 10 together and these, while slidable along the arms, are preferably frictionally engaged and held thereby against accidental movement relative to the hanger arms. The sleeves may be made of any material and cardboard sleeves have proved most satisfactory. In practice, the sleeve 11 cannot be slid to free the end of the arm 9 while the arm 10 is free when the sleeve 12 is slid into its dotted line position. This result is effected as by providing that the sleeves are of the same length and the arm 9 longer than the arm 10.

When the arm 10 is free, a garment 13 may be easily introduced between it and the arm 9. After the arm 10 is again caught by the sleeve 12, the tension of the arms on the garment may be increased by sliding either or both sleeves towards each other as required to ensure that the garment is securely gripped.

In FIG. 3, a hanger is shown that consists of a pair of book portions 14 and 15 each of whose ends is so bent and disposed as to establish a pair of close, parallel, overlapping supporting arms 16 and 17 slidably joined together by slidable sleeves 18 and 19 that preferably are frictional-ly engaged by the supporting arms, The sleeve 18 cannot be positioned to free the arm .17 while the arm 16 can be freed by sliding the sleeve 19' into its dotted line position to enable a garment to be introduced between it and the arm 17. When the arm 16 is again caught by the sleeve 19, the interposed garment can be securely locked in place by increasing the tension on the supporting arms by sliding either one or both of the sleeves towards each other. The garment hanger just described is primarily intended for support by cross arm or arms, such as the arms 9 and 10, of a coat hanger in accordance with the invention.

I claim:

A garment hanger comprising a hook, arms extending downwardly and outwardly from the hook, a stretch extending inwardly from the lower end of each arm, the stretches being parallel to each other and each stretch having a free end, first and second stretch tensioning slidable sleeves joining said stretches, the distance from the free end of one stretch to the junction of the other stretch and its related arm being less than the length of the sleeve adjacent thereto, the distance from the free end of the other stretch to the junction of the one stretch and its related arm being greater than the length of the adjacent sleeve to enable said adjacent sleeve to be slid into a position freeing the end of said other stretch thereby to enable a garment to be introduced between said stretches.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Blades Apr. 29, 1947 

